507 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
507 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: The Ultradimensional Mind FILE: UFO2262
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By
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Michael Grosso
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article from "Strange Magazine" #7
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Are some UFOs a type of psychic phenomenon? The link between the
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phenomena that go under the misleading name of "unidentified flying
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objects" and the phenomena studied by parapsychologists has been noted
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by a number of writers. John Keel, Jacques Vallee, J. Allen Hynek, Dr.
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Berthold Schwarz, D. Scott Rogo, Hilary Evans, and Eric Dingwall are
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names that come to mind and the list could easily be extended. A
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recent attempt to look more closely at the interface between the two
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fields is Manfred Cassirer's stimulating monograph, "Parapsychology
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and the UFO" (1988: Manfred Cassirer, 38 Christ Church Ave., London
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NW6 7BE).
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THE UFO-PSI INTERFACE
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Cassirer, a former chairman of the Physical Phenomena Committee of the
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British Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and presently council
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member of both the SPR and the British UFO Research Association
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(BUFORA), calls for a more "vigorous cross-fertilization and exchange
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of ideas" between ufologists and parapsychologists.
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Some years ago I tried to publish a paper on a UFO experience of mine
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in "The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research"; I was
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politely told by the editor, Laura Dale, that it was against policy to
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publish on UFOs.
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Yet I soon found that several well-known experimental
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parapsychologists were closet ufologists. The provincialism of some
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ufologists is more aggressive, as when they use invective instead of
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argument against researchers who stress the psychic side of ufology.
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Fortunately, there are growing signs of discontent with this
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situation. The time has come to attempt to integrate ufologists and
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parapsychology into a comprehensive discipline. Cassirer's study, a
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step in this direction, looks at about two dozen points of contact
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between the two areas of research.
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Let us begin with the obvious. Both types of phenomena go beyond what
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established science considers physically possible. When, for example,
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an unidentified flying object takes off from a stationary position,
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travelling at an astronomical speed, then makes a right angle turn and
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vanishes, we're dealing with something as baffling to known physics as
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clairvoyance or psychokinesis.
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SIMILARITIES IN CONTENT
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Most striking is the apparitional demeanor of UFOs. UFOs sometimes act
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like ghosts. When UFO lights or craft appear out of nowhere, rise
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straight up from the ground, or split up and multiply, as they often
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do, they appear ghostlike in their physical insubstantiality. Humanoid
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UFO occupants, sometimes reminiscent of elves and fairies-as well as
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ghosts-simultaneously have ordinary and extraordinary traits. For
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instance, they may look solid but then glide through walls. Or, as
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Euan Macpherson suggests, UFOs may be glimpses into the future, citing
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their ghostly behavior in support of his view. (See his "Beyond the ET
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Hypothesis: UFOs, Ghosts and Time-Slips," Strange Magazine #4, pp.
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26-26.)
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Despite their elusive tactics, ghosts and UFO entities sometimes
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leave physical traces, suggesting their hybrid stat- us. We need to
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underscore this point. A word to describe this tertium quid - this
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type of object neither entirely subject or object, dream or reality -
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is C. G. Jung's term, _psychoid_.
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Ufology and parapsychology point to a metaphysical twilight zone we
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can dub psychoid. We will come back to this, but first more on the
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overlaps in UFO-psi data, detailed by Cassirer.
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The annals of psychical research contain reports of materi-
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alizations, which Cassirer compares to UFOs, noting that "UFOs and
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their purported occupants are no less versatile in fading in and out
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at the very shortest notice."
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A common trait of UFO and psi-related entities is their uncommon
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luminosity. Ghosts, apparitions, and visions often appear radiant,
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enhaloed, or otherwise queerly incandescent; often so do the
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apparitions of UFOs and their occupants. One interesting relationship
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is between the beings of light reported in near-death and deathbed
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encounters and the lambent space brothers and angelic luminaries of
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UFO contactee fame. Here may be a positive clue to our problem. In the
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psychic world, luminosity-as Jung said-is akin to numinosity, i.e. the
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sense of sacred power. Both luminosity and numinosity are properties
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linked to supernormal modes of consciousness. The clue? Our
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phenomena may be alternate routes to some form of higher
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consciousness.
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Besides shared luminosities, the creatures of Ufoworld and Psiland
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engage our olfactory and auditory perceptions. Poltergeists, demons,
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Bigfoot, and UFO denizens are known to beset the nostrils with
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acrid, sulphurous and other unpleasant odors; while, in the realm of
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saintly psi, there is the well-attested odor of sanctity. Likewise,
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there are direct voices of mediums, transcendental music of deathbed
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visionaries, raps and footsteps of hauntings, and electronic voices of
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the dead, on the one hand and various hummings, buzzings, roarings,
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uncanny silences, and other auditory oddities linked to UFOs on the
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other. To add to this extrasensory overload, Cassirer notes that in
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both psychic and ufological experiences, people report queer breez-
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es, rushes, winds, and drafts, often unnaturally cold.
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The phenomenon of bodily levitation has been observed in mediumship,
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diabolic possession, and saintly ecstasy. Objects are allegedly
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levitated in poltergeist cases. Levitation plays a prominent part in
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UFO lore and case histories. To begin with, the strange objects seen
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cavorting about the heavens seem at odds with the laws of gravity, and
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so suggest levitation. People who claim to have been abducted by alien
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intruders sometimes say they were levitated, often on beams of light,
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into space ships. Sometimes they claim to be instantaneously
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catapulted miles away in space. Of course, the psychic world is full
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of tales of teleportation. My favorite is the case of the medium, Mrs.
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Samuel Guppy, teleported from her house at Highbury to 61 Lamb's
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Conduit Street, three miles away. Mrs. Guppy, studied by A. R.
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Wallace, baffled the arch-skeptic, Frank Podmore; according to
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witnesses, the overweight Mrs. Guppy came crashing out of nowhere onto
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the seance table, half-dressed. (See Fodor's Encyclopedia of Psychic
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Science, under "Guppy.)
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There are also strange distortions of time. Time is the best indicator
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that the mechanistic universe is working right. When time acts funny,
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our sense of reality starts to crumble. The notion of missing time has
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been much- discussed in the abduction literature. Yet this is old hat
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to psychologists like William James, for instance, who studied the
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case of Ansel Bourne, a man who found himself in a different state,
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leading a totally different life, after two months. James hypnotized
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the Reverend Bourne and was able to revive the memories of his missing
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time.
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The loss of one's routine sense of time is typical during dreaming;
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one flies around in one's dreams, shooting back to childhood scenes
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and sometimes seeming to leap forward into the future. The word used
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to describe this piece of weirdness is _precognition_.
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Then there is the strangeness of time-sense we experience in the
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presence of archetypes-those primordial images of the forces of
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nature. And who could deny that the whole UFO fabric is permeated by
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archetypal elements? (The "Andreasson affair" is an excellent example
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of an abduction experience shot through with motifs of spiritual in-
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itiation.)
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Cassirer refers to the "dimension game" we find played in the UFO and
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psi arenas. The German physicist, Johann Zollner, had his career
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ruined on account of his interest in the hyperdimensional physics of
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the medium Dr. Henry Slade. Psi phenomena tempt us to postulate other
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dimensions of space and/or time. The philosopher Bob Brier has argued
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that precognition forces us to postulate a fourth dimension of space
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(see his "Metaphysics of Precognition" in "Philosophy and Psychical
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Research", ed. S. C. Thakur). Jacques Vallee finds himself driven by
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UFO data to speculate on hyper-dimensionality in his book,
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"Dimensions."
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Once again, as with time, so with space-psi and UFOs challenge the
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rules we use to make sense of experience. We saw this with the
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distinction we made-seemingly so basic-between the mental and the
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physical. Here, too, we found a strange domain that straddles the two
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worlds: the inner and the outer.
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No, these strangers to our time and space who zip in and out of
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Ufoworld and Psiland remind us of the magical and the archetypal. When
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they graze us with their magic wands, our lives are disturbed, if not
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transformed. Jung, to begin with, saw in the very shape of the flying
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saucer a mandala or symbol of high integration.
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But there is a dark as well as a bright side to all this. The entities
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of the two domains of experience we are comparing have some nasty
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habits; they like to attack us in various and sundry ways.
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For instance, alien abduction is alien attack. Then there are those
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intimidating Men in Black. On the other side, psychical research
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contains data describing assaults by alien, and distinctly unpleasant,
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forces. David Hufford's "The Terror That Comes in the Night," a
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remarkable study of the nightmare, is a case in point. I myself have
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been attacked and temporarily paralyzed by a ghost. (See my
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forthcoming account in "Soulmaker", Hampton Roads, in press.)
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Not only do these metaphysical strangers invade our lives, often with
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apparent ill will or ill effect, but they often seem to want to help
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us, sometimes by direct intervention or by bringing news or messages
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or sometimes just by shattering our metaphysical complacency.
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Messages of what?--asks Cassirer. G. K. Chesterton once said that the
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spirits always lie. Jacques Vallee, writing a book about alien
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visitation, titled it "Messengers of Deception". It is well known that
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spirits st seances are often caught red-handed at fibbing and
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fabulation. Their messages are pretty dumb, says Cassirer, and so he
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prefers to speak of "messengers of regression." I agree that there is
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a load of twaddle that comes across as a message, both in ufology and
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psychical research.
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But that is not all. In the first place, we have to distinguish
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between the literal or overt message and the covert or symbolic. The
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message may not be verbal or literal but active and transformative.
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This seems clear in the old contactee cases. In unbiased accounts of
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alien abductions, the archetypal, symbolic and transformative elements
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are also present.
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Of course, there is a thing called experimenter effect or experimenter
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bias; if the investigator does not want to hear something, he or she
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might just tune it out. I think the evidence shows that our visitors
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from Domain X are bipolar in their intention; they like to play on our
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weaknesses but they also seem programmed to play up to our strengths.
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The Swedenborgian psychiatrist from Mendocino, California, Wilson van
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Dusen, studied the hallucinations of mental patients and found this
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polarity: there were good guys who tried to help the patients and
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rotters who nagged them to distraction.
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As far as psychical research, the range of "message" is rich and
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complex. True, there is much inanity, pious froth, and inflated "New
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Age" platitude. But entities also intervene to help people. You have,
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for example, amazing cases such as that of Joan of Arc whose pro-
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phetic voices led her to high historic exploits.
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There are also many everyday examples of psychic first-aid; I have
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collected stories of people whose lives have been saved by what looked
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like external intervention from metaphysical hybrids (see the chapter
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"Helping Apparitions" in my book "The Final Choice"). Sophy Burnham's
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creatively confused "Book of Angels" is full of examples of psychic
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first aid. Nor should we forget that great mediums like Mrs. Leonard,
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Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Willet were all seeming conduits for copious
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amounts of accurate information about the objective world. A close
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examination of the facts shows the presence of benign intelligence as
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well as malignant stupidity. (A curious reflection of ourselves!)
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SIMILARITIES IN MODE OF RESPONSE
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There is another set of similarities between UFO and psychic
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experiences. This has to do with the way people interact with and
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respond to anomalous entities. In both cases, altered states of
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consciousness are involved. UFOs are seen on highways at night, while
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people are in bed or sleeping or dozing or gazing; it is well known
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that altered states of consciousness lead to psychic experiences.
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(That is why meditators usually have increased psi experiences.) We
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already mentioned missing time--a sure sign of an altered state.
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Several researchers have found that the same individuals are often
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likely to have a history of both UFO encounters and psychic
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experiences, thus further strengthening the notion that the phenomena
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are interrelated. For example, many people have told me that they have
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had near-death, out-of body, and UFO experiences. Researchers on the
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near-death experience have found that many subjects develop a general
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sensitivity to a wide range of psychic or contactee-like experiences.
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According to reports, UFO intelligences communicate telepathically.
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Telepathy, of course, is a basic psychic mode of communication. This
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is a very strong effect in UFO reports and we could fill pages with
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examples. It is very hard to listen to so many accounts in which
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people claim to get impressions from ETs via thought transference
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without sensing the strong link between psychic phenomena and ufology.
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Another link is the behavior of animals. Animals react strangely to
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the presence of ghosts, poltergeists, and other psychic strangers;
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they also, as Cassirer notes, behave oddly when UFOs and their side-
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kicks are on the scene.
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Under the heading of modes of response we might add the following
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related observation. There is a similarity in the way people tend to
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respond to the entities of ufology and parapsychology; both types of
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entity, UFO- and psi-related, often evoke extreme responses.
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People are apt to lapse into a debunking syndrome or into marvelling
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credulity. UFOs and psi phenomena strike deep psychological chords; it
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is hard to respond to them with detached rationality.
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SIMILARITY IN SOCIOLOGY
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There are also similarities in the sociology of our two-or is it
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really one?-field(s). Cassirer points out that they elicit tricky
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moral issues. Do investigators, for instance, need special moral tact
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in dealing with their subjects? There are many ways one might be
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tempted to exploit the victims of strange experiences.
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Another parallel is the way the media come into play. They exploit
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shamelessly but at the same time make it possible to spread
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information, instantaneously and globally. So, sitting in my apartment
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in the Bronx, I learn at once of the latest three-eyed giants spooking
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kids in the Soviet Union. The problem is that the media are a poor way
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to transmit controversial information. Distortion is inevitable. Thus
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the data of ufology and parapsychology lend themselves to mythmaking.
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The "New Age" is in part a product of this mythmaking.
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A FALLACIOUS OBJECTION
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Can parapsychology shed light on ufology? The objection has been made
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that we cannot explain one unknown by another unknown. But this is to
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mistake the nature of the explanation. All explanations are relative,
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and even pure deductive systems involve primitive, unexplained
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elements. The general function of an explanation is to place the
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explicandum (the thing to be explained) in a larger, more familiar
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framework, which is always a matter of degree and always a tentative
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process open to revision.
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So, it is true that there is a great deal that is unknown and
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unexplained about psi, but there is also much that is known, general
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correlations, and even repeatable experiments- though not repeatable
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on demand. Altered states of consciousness (like dreams and hypnosis),
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personality variables (like extroversion), and psychological factors
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(like belief, creativity, and spontaneity) all co-relate with the
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production of psi phenomena.
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UFO data thus seem less isolated, less anomalous, and more familiar
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when viewed in relation to parapsychology; they exhibit connections
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with other areas of knowledge. This, of course, may only be a small
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step forward, but not a step without value.
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So let us agree that there is a substantive link between ufology and
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parapsychology. How are we to interpret this link? Several
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possibilities come to mind.
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THREE ANGLES ON THE PSI-UFO CONNECTION
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1.) The first is compatible with the ET hypothesis. Given That an ET
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civilization is (say) a billion years older than ours, it may possess
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a vastly developed psi technology. What appears like the "magic" of
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psi to us may be a routine feature of their technology. An advanced
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psi technology would account for the apparent similarities between
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UFOs and ghostly psi phenomena.
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Jenny Randles, for instance, suggests that UFOs are part of a
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broadcast system from an alien civilization-signalling "by
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'super-telepathy'-some kind of general galactic warning." My reading
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of the Fatima phenomenon-and possibly some incidents in the early
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history of Christianity-fits with this interpretation.
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2.) Another possibility is that UFOs are manifestations from another
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"dimension" of reality-not from another civilization somewhere in our
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physical universe. Several writers have suggested this; however, the
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notion of extra-or ultradimensionality is somewhat vague and trades
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mainly on analogies. Writers like Keel and Vallee speculate in this
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way because they find the ET hypothesis untenable but accept the
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compelling if strange reality of UFO phenomenon.
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Some ideas in recent physics embolden thinkers like Keel and Vallee to
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speculate on alternate dimensions of reality being the clue to the ET
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mystery. But as far as I can see, nothing in recent physics suggests
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the real possibility that we inhabit a multiverse of civilizations. On
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the other hand, Keel's "window" that separates us from the
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ultradimensional universe is one I am curious to peer through. Instead
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of physics, parapsychology might allow us to play the "dimension
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game."
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3.) This brings us to another way we might solve the UFO-psi
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equation. Let me sketch an idea of what I call the _ultradimensional
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mind_. The first step is this: There is a clear sense in which each
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human mind occupies its _own_ space _different_ from the public space
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of the physical universe. (For example, my thoughts, dreams, memories,
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fantasies, desires, and most of my sensations occupy their own logical
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and phenomenal space, topologically distinct from the space of my
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brain and body). In this inner or psychic sense, then, each human mind
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is "ultradimensional."
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Now we can take the next step. Given the timeless, spaceless nature of
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ESP and PK, perhaps some (or all) human minds form a system-a parallel
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universe of mind, a distinct entity with its own properties. (Tom
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Bearden calls it ZARG in his book "Excalibur Briefing".) It would be a
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mind with properties distinct from its component minds, on the
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assumption that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The
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sum of human minds, united in a systematic whole, thus serves as a
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model for the ultradimensional mind. Perhaps this is the entity that
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holds the secret to the UFO mystery.
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We can call this the _psycho-terrestrial hypothesis_. It is an idea
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that is related to Jung's collective unconscious. Two intriquing books
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by Gregory Little also develop a similar approach: "The Archetype
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Experience" and "The People of the Web." In this view, the wild medley
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of UFO phenomena are the off-shoot of collective human psi function.
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One thing in its favor-it is parsimonious. We have good evidence for
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psi function-very little, if any, for the objective reality of
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extraterrestrial spacecraft.
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So UFOs may be products of an ultradimensional psi-mediated,
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psi-constituted factor. As against the ET hypothesis, I am slightly
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inclined to favor it; yet I am far from convinced. By means of the
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psycho-terrestrial hypothesis we can combine the dimension metaphor
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with psi data and "save the phenomena." In other words, we can agree
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that UFOs have objectivity, a measure of materiality, and external
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agency, but not that they come from outer space. And since they are
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part of our terrestrial history, we can start thinking about what they
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mean.
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Let me wind up with a few thoughts on the hypothesis of
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ultradimensional mind.
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CONCLUDING CROTCHETS
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* Should it turn out that we have crashed saucers or bodies of ETs or
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living ETs incarcerated on earth, it would show that at least some
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types of UFO phenomena clash with our third hypothesis.
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* Landing gear marks, photos of UFOs, chemical changes in soil, radar
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sightings, radioactive effects, and evidence for electro-mechanical
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malfunction seem at the present stage of our knowledge ambiguous with
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respect to the ET and PT (psycho-terrestrial) hypotheses. It could go
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either way.
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It is possible to state conditions that render the latter at least
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intelligible.
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a). We do not know the limits of psi ability, individual or
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collective. The evidence suggests that we get what we expect, what we
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believe is possible, and what slips past the grid of repression. (An
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ultradimensional mind would be less inhibited.)
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b). We already have evidence for psychoid entities, which may account
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for traces, photographs, and-at least in principle-all physical
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effects.
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c). There is reason to believe that human psychic capacity manifests
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in ways that are culture-specific. An "angel" is said to have pierced
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the heart of Teresa of Avila, evidenced in her autopsy. Stigmata are
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dramatic examples of culture-specific mediations of
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auto-psychokinesis. Why then couldn't a "space alien" leave its
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appropriate physical marks on a modern abductee? Or why couldn't an
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ultradimensional intelligence leave landing gear marks or other
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physical impressions designed to _look like_ traces of spacecraft?
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Something like this might be happening with Bigfoot where we get
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footprints but no feet. Indeed, Janet and Colin Bord's "Alien Animals"
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suggests the family resemblance between a host of anomalies that may
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emanate from the same ultradimensional mind.
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* This leads to my next point. To flesh out this hypothesis, that is,
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to help us realize the range, plasticity, and potential immensity of
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collective human psychic power, we need to place before our minds not
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only the data of experimental parapsychology and the spontaneous case
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collections of forteana and psychical research but also the
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well-documented phenomena of saints, adepts, and gurus. For instance,
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material meticulously studied by Herbert Thurston, Bollandists, and
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recently Michael Murphy (in his forthcoming "The Future of the Body")
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indicate a startling range of powers latent in human function.
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Erlendur Haraldsson's recent study of Sai Baba ("Modern Miracles" )
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is another contemporary source of alleged astonishing human abilities
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that may need to be figured into our hypothesis of an ultradimensional
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mind.
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* Recent work on earthlights, brain physiology, and genetics suggest
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new perspectives on UFO and psi manifestations. All this also needs to
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be worked into the equation. The ultradimensional entity we are
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hypothesizing would not only enjoy a life of its own, but it may also
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function in a symbiotic relationship with the physical and historical
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dynamics of the planet. Paul Devereux and Rupert Sheldrake have been
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speculating along these lines, developing enriched models of the Gaia
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hypothesis.
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* If there is an ultradimensional mind, related symbiotically to the
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history of our species on earth, then we are entitled to ask what it
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might mean for our spiritual history as well as for our evolutionary
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future. Writers have already noted the relations between alien
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humanoids and creatures of folklore, angels, fairies, and elementals.
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Indeed, we may throw our net out further and catch a variety of
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phantom-psychoid creatures as well as a clutch of gods and goddesses.
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The link between Mary-goddess epiphanies and UFOs has been noted, of
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course. The history of magic and religion may thus be seen as a
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product of interactions with our shapeshifting, polymorphous
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ultradimensional mind.
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* An interesting line of research in recent parapsy- chology shows
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that psi is need-based and operates unconsciously. Our psi "organs"
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sometimes unconsciously scan the environment, detecting aversive or
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potentially useful stimuli, and direct our behavior accordingly. Rex
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Stanford has developed what he calls the PMIR model-the notion of
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psi-mediated instrumental response.
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Clinical studies by Montague Ullman and Jule Eisenbud show how this
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sort of unconscious psi-mediated intentionality works. Now, if we
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extrapolate the notion of unconscious intentionality from the
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individual to the ultradimensional mind, it is easy to see how we as
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individuals may be involved in curious interplay with this bewildering
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entity.
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The important thing to remember is that the ultra-dimensional mind
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probably has its own agenda; it may also be confused, hesitant, or
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contrarian; it may have helpful, destructive, playful, or just
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wasteful impulses and intentions.
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Since the ultradimensional mind at bottom is an expression of the
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totality-plus of individual human minds, a thing of awful diversity,
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glorious heights and hideous depths, we should not be surprised if it
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displays both a dark and a bright side .
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So, sometimes it appears like a control system, sometimes like a
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warning system, sometimes like a fiendish hoax; it seems to be
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prodding us to evolve one day and self destruct the next; then again
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it may seem to just want To amuse and divert us, like a capricious
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artist doodling on a piece of scrap paper.
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The fact that we keep changing our minds about strange phenomena, that
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inconsistency, ambiguity and uncertainty seem built into them, and for
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that matter into all things religious, spiritual and meta-physical may
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signify the inconsistency, ambiguity and uncertainty of our existence.
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** End of article **
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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